The UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (formally THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND
SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; informally OXFORD UNIVERSITY or
simply OXFORD) is a prestigious and highly selective collegiate
research university located in Oxford,
EnglandEngland . It has no known date
of foundation, but there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096,
making it the oldest university in the
English-speaking worldEnglish-speaking world and the
world\'s second-oldest university in continuous operation . It grew
rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending
the
University of ParisUniversity of Paris . After disputes between students and Oxford
townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to
CambridgeCambridge where
they established what became the University of
CambridgeCambridge . The two
"ancient universities " are frequently jointly referred to as
"
Oxbridge ".

The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38
constituent colleges and a full range of academic departments which
are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are
self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling
its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities.
Being a city university, it does not have a main campus and instead
its buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre.
Most undergraduate teaching at
OxfordOxford is organised around weekly
tutorials at the colleges and halls, supported by classes, lectures
and laboratory work provided by university faculties and departments.

The university operates the world's oldest university museum , as
well as the largest university press in the world and the largest
academic library system in Britain.
OxfordOxford has educated many notable
alumni, including 29 Nobel laureates , 27 Prime Ministers of the
United KingdomUnited Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the
world. 69 Nobel Prize winners have studied, worked, or held visiting
fellowships at the University of Oxford.
OxfordOxford is the home of the
Rhodes Scholarship , one of the world's oldest international
scholarships.

The University of
OxfordOxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at
OxfordOxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when a
university came into being. It grew quickly in 1167 when English
students returned from the
University of ParisUniversity of Paris . The historian Gerald
of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign
scholar,
Emo of Friesland , arrived in 1190. The head of the
university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, and the
masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231. The
university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of
King Henry III .

The students associated together on the basis of geographical
origins, into two "nations ", representing the North (northerners or
Boreales, who included the
English peopleEnglish people from north of the River
Trent and the Scots ) and the South (southerners or Australes, who
included
English peopleEnglish people from south of the Trent, the Irish and the
Welsh ). In later centuries, geographical origins continued to
influence many students' affiliations when membership of a college or
hall became customary in Oxford. In addition, members of many
religious orders , including Dominicans , Franciscans ,
Carmelites and
AugustiniansAugustinians , settled in
OxfordOxford in the mid-13th century, gained
influence and maintained houses or halls for students. At about the
same time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained
scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William
of Durham , who in 1249 endowed University College , and John Balliol
, father of a future King of Scots ;
Balliol College bears his name.
Another founder,
Walter de Merton , a Lord
ChancellorChancellor of
EnglandEngland and
afterwards
Bishop of Rochester , devised a series of regulations for
college life;
Merton CollegeMerton College thereby became the model for such
establishments at Oxford, as well as at the University of Cambridge.
Thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather
than in halls and religious houses.

In 1636
William LaudWilliam Laud , the chancellor and
Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of Canterbury ,
codified the university's statutes. These, to a large extent, remained
its governing regulations until the mid-19th century. Laud was also
responsible for the granting of a charter securing privileges for the
University Press , and he made significant contributions to the
Bodleian Library , the main library of the university. From the
beginnings of the Church of
EnglandEngland as the established church until
1866, membership of the church was a requirement to receive the BA
degree from the university and "dissenters " were only permitted to
receive the MA in 1871. An engraving of Christ Church, Oxford,
1742

The university was a centre of the Royalist party during the English
Civil War (1642–1649), while the town favoured the opposing
Parliamentarian cause. From the mid-18th century onwards, however,
the University of
OxfordOxford took little part in political conflicts.

The curriculum at
OxfordOxford before the reforms was notoriously narrow
and impractical. Sir
Spencer Walpole , a historian of contemporary
Britain and a senior government official, had not attended any
university. He says, "few medical men, few solicitors, few persons
intended for commerce or trade, ever dreamed of passing through a
university career." He quotes the
OxfordOxford University Commissioners in
1852 stating: "The education imparted at
OxfordOxford was not such as to
conduce to the advancement in life of many persons, except those
intended for the ministry." Nevertheless, Walpole argued:

Among the many deficiencies attending a university education there
was, however, one good thing about it, and that was the education
which the undergraduates gave themselves. It was impossible to collect
some thousand or twelve hundred of the best young man in England, to
give them the opportunity of making acquaintance with one another, and
full liberty to live their lives in their own way, without evolving in
the best among them, some admirable qualities of loyalty,
independence, and self-control. If the average undergraduate carried
from University little or no learning, which was of any service to
him, he carried from it a knowledge of men and respect for his fellows
and himself, a reverence for the past, a code of honour for the
present, which could not but be serviceable. He had enjoyed
opportunities... of intercourse with men, some of whom were certain to
rise to the highest places in the Senate, in the Church, or at the
Bar. He might have mixed with them in his sports, in his studies, and
perhaps in his debating society; and any associations which he had
this formed had been useful to him at the time, and might be a source
of satisfaction to him in after life.

Out of the students who matriculated in 1840, 65% were sons of
professionals (34% were Anglican ministers). After graduation 87%
became professionals (59% as Anglican clergy). Out of the students who
matriculated in 1870, 59% were sons of professionals (25% were
Anglican ministers). After graduation 87% became professionals (42% as
Anglican clergy).

M. C. Curthoys and H. S. Jones argue that the rise of organised sport
was one of the most remarkable and distinctive features of the history
of the universities of
OxfordOxford and
CambridgeCambridge in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. It was carried over from the athleticism prevalent at
the public schools such as Eton and Harrow.

At the start of 1914 the university housed about 3,000 undergraduates
and about 100 postgraduate students. During the First World War many
undergraduates and Fellows joined the armed forces. By 1918 virtually
all Fellows were in uniform, and the student population in residence
was reduced to 12 per cent. The University Roll of Service records
that, in total, 14,792 members of the university served in the war,
with 2,716 (18.36%) killed. Not all the members of the university who
served in the Great War were on the Allied side; there is a remarkable
memorial to members of New College who served in the German armed
forces, bearing the inscription, 'In memory of the men of this college
who coming from a foreign land entered into the inheritance of this
place and returning fought and died for their country in the war
1914–1918'. During the war years the university buildings became
hospitals, cadet schools and military training camps.

Reforms

Two high-powered parliamentary commissions in 1852 issued
recommendations for
OxfordOxford and Cambridge.
Archibald Campbell Tait ,
former headmaster of Rugby School, was a key member of the Oxford
Commission; he wanted
OxfordOxford to follow the German and Scottish model
in which the professorship was paramount. The Commission's report
envisioned a centralised university run predominantly by professors
and faculties, with a much stronger emphasis on research. The
professional staff should be strengthened and better paid. For
students, restrictions on entry should be dropped, and more
opportunity given to poorer families. It called for an enlargement of
the curriculum, with honours to be awarded in many new fields.
Undergraduate scholarships should be open to all Britons. Graduate
fellowships should be opened up to all members of the University. It
recommended that fellows be released from an obligation for
ordination. Students were to be allowed to save money by boarding in
the city, instead of in a college.

The system of separate honour schools for different subjects began in
1802, with Mathematics and
Literae Humaniores . Schools of "Natural
Sciences" and "Law, and Modern History" were added in 1853. By 1872,
the last of these had split into "Jurisprudence" and "Modern History".
Theology became the sixth honour school. In addition to these B.A.
Honours degrees, the postgraduate
Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) was,
and still is, offered.
Brasenose Lane in the city centre, a
street onto which three colleges back – Brasenose , Lincoln and
Exeter

Administrative reforms during the 19th century included the
replacement of oral examinations with written entrance tests, greater
tolerance for religious dissent , and the establishment of four
women's colleges. Privy Council decisions in the 20th century (e.g.
the abolition of compulsory daily worship, dissociation of the Regius
Professorship of Hebrew from clerical status, diversion of colleges'
theological bequests to other purposes) loosened the link with
traditional belief and practice. Furthermore, although the
university's emphasis had historically been on classical knowledge,
its curriculum expanded during the 19th century to include scientific
and medical studies. Knowledge of
Ancient GreekAncient Greek was required for
admission until 1920, and
LatinLatin until 1960.

The University of
OxfordOxford began to award doctorates in the first third
of the 20th century. The first
OxfordOxford DPhil in mathematics was awarded
in 1921.

The mid-20th century saw many distinguished continental scholars,
displaced by
Nazism and communism, relocating to Oxford.

The list of distinguished scholars at the University of
OxfordOxford is
long and includes many who have made major contributions to politics,
the sciences, medicine, and literature. More than 50 Nobel laureates
and more than 50 world leaders have been affiliated with the
University of Oxford.

WOMEN\'S EDUCATION

The university passed a statute in 1875 allowing examinations for
women at roughly undergraduate level; for a brief period in the early
1900s, this allowed the "steamboat ladies " to receive ad eundem
degrees from the
University of Dublin . The first four women's
colleges were established through the efforts of the Association for
Promoting the Higher Education of Women (AEW). Lady Margaret Hall
(1878) was followed by
Somerville CollegeSomerville College in 1879; the first 21
students from Somerville and Lady Margaret Hall attended lectures in
rooms above an
OxfordOxford baker's shop. The first two colleges for women
were followed by St Hugh\'s (1886), St Hilda\'s (1893) and St
Anne\'s College (1952). In the early 20th century,
OxfordOxford and
CambridgeCambridge were widely perceived to be bastions of male privilege ,
however the integration of women into
OxfordOxford moved forward during the
First World War. In 1916 women were admitted as medical students on a
par with men, and in 1917 the university accepted financial
responsibility for women's examinations.
Somerville CollegeSomerville College was
founded as one of Oxford's first women's colleges in 1879, but it is
now fully co-educational

On 7 October 1920 women became eligible for admission as full members
of the university and were given the right to take degrees. In 1927
the university's dons created a quota that limited the number of
female students to a quarter that of men, a ruling which was not
abolished until 1957. However, during this period
OxfordOxford colleges
were single sex , so the number of women was also limited by the
capacity of the women's colleges to admit students. It was not until
1959 that the women's colleges were given full collegiate status. In
1974, Brasenose , Jesus , Wadham , Hertford and St Catherine\'s became
the first previously all-male colleges to admit women. In 2008, the
last single-sex college, St Hilda's, admitted its first men, so that
all colleges are now co-residential. By 1988, 40% of undergraduates at
OxfordOxford were female; in 2016, 45% of the student population, and 47%
of undergraduate students, were female.

In June 2017,
OxfordOxford announced that starting the following academic
year, history students may choose to sit a take-home exam in some
courses, with the intention that this will equalise rates of firsts
awarded to women and men at Oxford. That same summer, maths and
computer science tests were extended by 15 minutes, in a bid to see if
female student scores would improve.

The detective novel
Gaudy Night by
Dorothy L. Sayers , herself one of
the first women to gain an academic degree from Oxford, is largely set
in a (fictional) women's college at Oxford, and the issue of women's
education is central to its plot.

BUILDINGS AND SITES

MAP

MAP OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

St Anne's College
Balliol College Christ Church
College The Queen's College Worcester College Oriel
College Corpus Christi College St Antony's College St
Hugh's College
Somerville CollegeSomerville College New College St
Catherine's College Magdalen College All Souls College
Brasenose College Exeter College Green Templeton College
Harris Manchester College
Hertford CollegeHertford College Jesus College
Keble College Kellogg College Lady Margaret Hall Linacre
College Lincoln College Mansfield College
Merton CollegeMerton CollegeNuffield CollegeNuffield College Pembroke College St Cross College St
Edmund Hall St Hilda's College St Peter's College Trinity
College University College
Wadham CollegeWadham College Wolfson College
Wolfson College is on Linton Road, 580m from this arrow
Blackfriars
Campion HallCampion Hall Regent’s Park College (Permanent
Private Hall) St Benet’s Hall St Stephen’s House St
Stephen's House is on Marston Street, 350m from this arrow
Wycliffe Hall Blackfriars
Campion HallCampion Hall Regent’s Park
College (Permanent Private Hall) St Benet’s Hall St
Stephen’s House Wycliffe Hall MATHEMATICS COMPUTER
SCIENCE LAW PHYSICS CHEMISTRY BODLEIAN LIBRARY
ADMINISTRATION RADCLIFFE SCIENCE LIBRARY RADCLIFFE CAMERA
EXAM SCHOOLS MATERIALS top:36.891%;left:77.742%"> MEDICINE
SAïD BUSINESS SCHOOL ASHMOLEAN top:48.238%;left:38.613%"> HEBREW
top:69.948%;left:79.174%"> RUSKIN ART SCHOOL University of
OxfordOxford Faculties ">KEY

The university is a "city university" in that it does not have a main
campus; instead, colleges, departments, accommodation, and other
facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. The Science Area
, in which most science departments are located, is the area that
bears closest resemblance to a campus. The ten-acre (4 hectare)
Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in the northwest of the city is
currently under development. However, the larger colleges' sites are
of similar size to these areas.

In 2012–13, the university built the controversial one-hectare
(400m × 25m)
Castle Mill development of 4–5-storey blocks of
student flats overlooking
Cripley Meadow and the historic Port Meadow
, blocking views of the spires in the city centre. The development
has been likened to building a "skyscraper beside
StonehengeStonehenge ".

PARKS

Autumn in the Botanic Garden

The
University ParksUniversity Parks are a 70-acre (28 ha) parkland area in the
northeast of the city. It is open to the public during daylight hours.
As well as providing gardens and exotic plants, the Parks contains
numerous sports fields, used for official and unofficial fixtures, and
also contains sites of special interest including the Genetic Garden,
an experimental garden to elucidate and investigate evolutionary
processes.

The Botanic Garden on the High Street is the oldest botanic garden in
the UK. It contains over 8,000 different plant species on 1.8 ha (4
1⁄2 acres). It is one of the most diverse yet compact major
collections of plants in the world and includes representatives of
over 90% of the higher plant families. The
Harcourt Arboretum is a
130-acre (53 ha) site six miles (10 km) south of the city that
includes native woodland and 67 acres (27 hectares) of meadow. The
1,000-acre (4.0 km2)
Wytham Woods are owned by the university and used
for research in zoology and climate change .

There are also various collegiate-owned open spaces open to the
public, including
Bagley Wood and most notably Christ Church Meadow .

As a collegiate university , Oxford's structure can be confusing to
those unfamiliar with it. The university is a federation, comprising
over forty self-governing colleges and halls , along with a central
administration headed by the
Vice-ChancellorVice-Chancellor .

Academic departments are located centrally within the structure of
the federation; they are not affiliated with any particular college.
Departments provide facilities for teaching and research, determine
the syllabi and guidelines for the teaching of students, perform
research, and deliver lectures and seminars.

Colleges arrange the tutorial teaching for their undergraduates, and
the members of an academic department are spread around many colleges.
Though certain colleges do have subject alignments (e.g., Nuffield
College as a centre for the social sciences), these are exceptions,
and most colleges will have a broad mix of academics and students from
a diverse range of subjects. Facilities such as libraries are provided
on all these levels: by the central university (the
Bodleian ), by the
departments (individual departmental libraries, such as the English
Faculty Library), and by colleges (each of which maintains a
multi-discipline library for the use of its members).

CENTRAL GOVERNANCE

The university's formal head is the
ChancellorChancellor , currently Lord
Patten of Barnes , though as at most British universities, the
ChancellorChancellor is a titular figure and is not involved with the day-to-day
running of the university. The
ChancellorChancellor is elected by the members of
Convocation , a body comprising all graduates of the university, and
holds office until death. Wellington Square , the name of which
has become synonymous with the university's central administration

The
Vice-ChancellorVice-Chancellor , currently
Louise Richardson , is the de facto
head of the university. Five pro-vice-chancellors have specific
responsibilities for education; research; planning and resources;
development and external affairs; and personnel and equal
opportunities. The University Council is the executive policy-forming
body, which consists of the vice-chancellor as well as heads of
departments and other members elected by Congregation , in addition to
observers from the students\' union . Congregation, the "parliament of
the dons", comprises over 3,700 members of the university's academic
and administrative staff, and has ultimate responsibility for
legislative matters: it discusses and pronounces on policies proposed
by the University Council.

Two university proctors , elected annually on a rotating basis from
two of the colleges, are the internal ombudsmen who make sure that the
university and its members adhere to its statutes. This role
incorporates student welfare and discipline, as well as oversight of
the university's proceedings. The university's professors are
collectively referred to as the "Statutory Professors of the
University of Oxford". They are particularly influential in the
running of the university's graduate programmes. Examples of statutory
professors are the Chichele Professorships and the Drummond Professor
of Political Economy. The various academic faculties, departments, and
institutes are organised into four divisions, each with its own head
and elected board. They are the Humanities division ; the Social
Sciences Division; the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences
Division; and the Medical Sciences Division .

The University of
OxfordOxford is a "public university" in the sense that
it receives some public money from the government, but it is a
"private university" in the sense that it is entirely self-governing
and, in theory, could choose to become entirely private by rejecting
public funds.

To be a member of the university, all students, and most academic
staff, must also be a member of a college or hall. There are 38
colleges of the University of
OxfordOxford and six Permanent Private Halls ,
each controlling its membership and with its own internal structure
and activities. Not all colleges offer all courses, but they
generally cover a broad range of subjects.

The Permanent Private Halls were founded by different Christian
denominations. One difference between a college and a PPH is that
whereas colleges are governed by the fellows of the college, the
governance of a PPH resides, at least in part, with the corresponding
Christian denomination. The six current PPHs are:

The PPHs and colleges join together as the Conference of Colleges,
which represents the common concerns of the several colleges of the
university, and to discuss policy and to deal with the central
university administration. The Conference of Colleges was
established as a recommendation of the Franks Commission in 1965.

Teaching members of the colleges (i.e. fellows and tutors) are
collectively and familiarly known as dons , although the term is
rarely used by the university itself. In addition to residential and
dining facilities, the colleges provide social, cultural, and
recreational activities for their members. Colleges have
responsibility for admitting undergraduates and organising their
tuition; for graduates, this responsibility falls upon the
departments. There is no common title for the heads of colleges: the
titles used include Warden, Provost, Principal, President, Rector,
Master and Dean.

FINANCES

Dining hall at Christ Church. The hall is an important feature
of the typical
OxfordOxford college, providing a place to both dine and
socialise

In 2014/15, the university had an income of £1,429m; key sources
were research grants (£522.9m) and academic fees (£258.3m). The
colleges had a total income of £415m,

While the university has a larger annual income and operating budget,
the colleges have a larger aggregate endowment: over £3.8bn compared
to the university's £834m. The Central University's endowment, along
with some of the colleges', is managed by the university's wholly
owned endowment management office,
OxfordOxford University Endowment
Management, formed in 2007. The university has substantial
investments in fossil fuel companies, and in 2014 began consultations
on whether it should follow some US universities which have committed
to sell off their fossil fuel investments.

The University was one of the first in the UK to raise money through
a major public fundraising campaign, The Campaign for
OxfordOxford . The
current campaign, its second, was launched in May 2008 and is entitled
"
OxfordOxford Thinking – The Campaign for the University of Oxford". This
is looking to support three areas: academic posts and programmes,
student support, and buildings and infrastructure; having passed its
original target of £1.25 billion in March 2012, the target has now
been raised to £3 billion. The university has raised £2 billion so
far in 2015.

In common with most British universities, prospective students apply
through the
UCASUCAS application system, but prospective applicants for
the University of Oxford, along with those for medicine, dentistry,
and University of
CambridgeCambridge applicants, must observe an earlier
deadline of 15 October.

To allow a more personalised judgement of students, who might
otherwise apply for both, undergraduate applicants are not permitted
to apply to both
OxfordOxford and
CambridgeCambridge in the same year. The only
exceptions are applicants for organ scholarships and those applying
to read for a second undergraduate degree.

Most applicants choose to apply to one of the individual colleges,
which work with each other to ensure that the best students gain a
place somewhere at the university regardless of their college
preferences. Shortlisting is based on achieved and predicted exam
results, school references, and, in some subjects, written admission
tests or candidate-submitted written work. Approximately 60% of
applicants are shortlisted, although this varies by subject. If a
large number of shortlisted applicants for a subject choose one
college, then students who named that college may be reallocated
randomly to under-subscribed colleges for the subject. The colleges
then invite shortlisted candidates for interview, where they are
provided with food and accommodation for around three days in
December. Most applicants will be individually interviewed by
academics at more than one college. Students from outside Europe can
be interviewed remotely, for example, over the Internet.

Offers are sent out in early January, with each offer usually being
from a specific college. One in four successful candidates receives an
offer from a college that they did not apply to. Some courses may make
"open offers" to some candidates, who are not assigned to a particular
college until
A Level results day in August.

Undergraduate teaching is centred on the tutorial, where 1–4
students spend an hour with an academic discussing their week's work,
usually an essay (humanities, most social sciences, some mathematical,
physical, and life sciences) or problem sheet (most mathematical,
physical, and life sciences, and some social sciences). The university
itself is responsible for conducting examinations and conferring
degrees. Undergraduate teaching takes place during three eight-week
academic terms: Michaelmas , Hilary and Trinity . (These are
officially known as 'Full Term': 'Term' is a lengthier period with
little practical significance.) Internally, the weeks in a term begin
on Sundays, and are referred to numerically, with the initial week
known as "first week", the last as "eighth week" and with the
numbering extended to refer to weeks before and after term (for
example "-1st week" and "0th week" precede term). Undergraduates must
be in residence from Thursday of 0th week. These teaching terms are
shorter than those of most other British universities, and their
total duration amounts to less than half the year. However,
undergraduates are also expected to do some academic work during the
three holidays (known as the Christmas, Easter, and Long Vacations).

Research degrees at the master's and doctoral level are conferred in
all subjects studied at graduate level at the university.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Rhodes House – home to the awarding body for the Rhodes
Scholarships , often considered to be the world's most prestigious
scholarship

There are many opportunities for students at
OxfordOxford to receive
financial help during their studies. The
OxfordOxford Opportunity Bursaries,
introduced in 2006, are university-wide means-based bursaries
available to any British undergraduate, with a total possible grant of
£10,235 over a 3-year degree. In addition, individual colleges also
offer bursaries and funds to help their students. For graduate study,
there are many scholarships attached to the university, available to
students from all sorts of backgrounds, from Rhodes Scholarships to
the relatively new Weidenfeld Scholarships.
OxfordOxford also offers the
Clarendon Scholarship which is open to graduate applicants of all
nationalities. The Clarendon Scholarship is principally funded by
OxfordOxford University Press in association with colleges and other
partnership awards. In 2016,
OxfordOxford University announced that it is
to run its first free online economics course as part of a “massive
open online course " (Mooc) scheme, in partnership with a US online
university network. The course available is called ‘From Poverty to
Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development’.

Students successful in early examinations are rewarded by their
colleges with scholarships and exhibitions , normally the result of a
long-standing endowment, although since the introduction of tuition
fees the amounts of money available are purely nominal. Scholars, and
exhibitioners in some colleges, are entitled to wear a more voluminous
undergraduate gown; "commoners" (originally those who had to pay for
their "commons", or food and lodging) are restricted to a short,
sleeveless garment. The term "scholar" in relation to
OxfordOxford therefore
had a specific meaning as well as the more general meaning of someone
of outstanding academic ability. In previous times, there were
"noblemen commoners" and "gentlemen commoners", but these ranks were
abolished in the 19th century. "Closed" scholarships, available only
to candidates who fitted specific conditions such as coming from
specific schools, now exist only in name.

The university maintains the largest university library system in the
UK, and, with over 11 million volumes housed on 120 miles (190 km) of
shelving, the
Bodleian group is the second-largest library in the UK,
after the
British LibraryBritish Library . The
Bodleian is a legal deposit library,
which means that it is entitled to request a free copy of every book
published in the UK. As such, its collection is growing at a rate of
over three miles (five kilometres) of shelving every year.

The
Bodleian Libraries group was formed in 2000, bringing the
Bodleian Library and some of the subject libraries together. It now
comprises 28 libraries, a number of which have been created by
bringing previously separate collections together, including the
Sackler Library , Social Science Library and Radcliffe Science Library
. Another major product of this collaboration has been a joint
integrated library system, OLIS (
OxfordOxford Libraries Information System),
and its public interface, SOLO (Search
OxfordOxford Libraries Online),
which provides an electronic catalogue covering all member libraries,
as well as the libraries of individual colleges and other faculty
libraries, which are not members of the group but do share cataloguing
information.

A new book depository opened in
South Marston ,
SwindonSwindon in October
2010, and current building projects include the remodelling of the
New
Bodleian building, which will be renamed the Weston Library when
it reopens in 2014–15. The renovation is designed to better
showcase the library's various treasures (which include a Shakespeare
First FolioFirst Folio and a
Gutenberg BibleGutenberg Bible ) as well as temporary exhibitions.

The University Museum of Natural
HistoryHistory holds the university's
zoological, entomological and geological specimens. It is housed in a
large neo-Gothic building on
Parks Road , in the university's Science
Area . Among its collection are the skeletons of a
TyrannosaurusTyrannosaurus rex
and
TriceratopsTriceratops , and the most complete remains of a dodo found
anywhere in the world. It also hosts the Simonyi Professorship of the
Public Understanding of Science , currently held by
Marcus du Sautoy .
The interior of the
Pitt Rivers Museum

Adjoining the Museum of Natural
HistoryHistory is the
Pitt Rivers Museum ,
founded in 1884, which displays the university's archaeological and
anthropological collections, currently holding over 500,000 items. It
recently built a new research annexe; its staff have been involved
with the teaching of anthropology at
OxfordOxford since its foundation, when
as part of his donation General
Augustus Pitt RiversAugustus Pitt Rivers stipulated that
the university establish a lectureship in anthropology.

The Museum of the
HistoryHistory of Science is housed on Broad St in the
world's oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building. It contains
15,000 artefacts, from antiquity to the 20th century, representing
almost all aspects of the history of science . In the Faculty of Music
on St Aldate\'s is the
Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a
collection mostly of instruments from Western classical music, from
the medieval period onwards.
Christ Church Picture Gallery holds a
collection of over 200 old master paintings.

The
OxfordOxford University Press is the world's second oldest and
currently the largest university press by the number of publications.
More than 6,000 new books are published annually, including many
reference, professional, and academic works (such as the Oxford
English Dictionary , the Concise
OxfordOxford English Dictionary , the
OxfordOxford World\'s Classics , the
OxfordOxford Dictionary of National Biography
, and the
Concise Dictionary of National Biography ).

RANKINGS AND REPUTATION

Rankings
ARWU
(2017, world) 7

QS
(2018, world) 6

THE
(2018, world) 1

Complete
(2018, national) 2

The Guardian
(2018, national) 2

Times/Sunday Times
(2018, national) 2

TEACHING EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK
Gold

OxfordOxford is regularly ranked within the top 10 universities in the
world and is currently ranked first in the world in the Times Higher
Education World University Rankings , as well as the
ForbesForbes 's World
University Rankings. It held the number one position in the Times
Good University Guide for eleven consecutive years, and the medical
school has also maintained first place in the "Clinical, Pre-Clinical
& Health" table of the THE World University Rankings for the past
seven consecutive years. THE has also recognised
OxfordOxford as one of the
world's "six super brands" on its World Reputation Rankings, along
with Berkeley ,
CambridgeCambridge , Harvard , MIT , and Stanford . Its Saïd
Business School came 23rd in the world in
Financial Times Global MBA
Ranking.

OxfordOxford is ranked 5th best university worldwide and 1st in Britain for
forming CEO s according to the Professional Ranking World Universities
. It is ranked first in the UK for the quality of its graduates as
chosen by the recruiters of the UK's major companies.

In the 2018
Complete University Guide , all 38 subjects offered by
OxfordOxford rank within the top 10 nationally meaning
OxfordOxford was one of
only two multi-faculty universities (along with
CambridgeCambridge ) in the UK
to have 100% of their subjects in the top 10. Computer Science,
Medicine, Philosophy, Politics and Psychology were ranked first in the
UK by the guide.

According to the
QS World University Rankings by Subject, the
University of
OxfordOxford also ranks as number one in the world for four
Humanities disciplines: English Language and Literature, Modern
Languages ,
GeographyGeography , and
HistoryHistory . It also ranks 2nd globally for
Anthropology, Archaeology, Law, Medicine, Politics "> An
undergraduate student at the University of
OxfordOxford in subfusc for
matriculation

Academic dress is required for examinations, matriculation,
disciplinary hearings, and when visiting university officers. A
referendum held amongst the
OxfordOxford student body in 2015 showed 76%
against making it voluntary in examinations – 8,671 students voted,
with the 40.2% turnout the highest ever for a UK student union
referendum. This was widely interpreted by students as being a vote
on not so much making subfusc voluntary, but rather, in effect,
abolishing it by default, in that if a minority of people came to
exams without subfusc, the rest would soon follow. In July 2012 the
regulations regarding academic dress were modified to be more
inclusive to transgender people.

Other traditions and customs vary by college. For example, some
colleges have formal hall six times a week, but in others this only
happens occasionally. At most colleges these formal meals require
gowns to be worn, and a
LatinLatin grace is said.

Balls are major events held by colleges; the largest, held
triennially in 9th week of Trinity Term, are called Commemoration
balls ; the dress code is usually white tie . Many other colleges hold
smaller events during the year that they call summer balls or parties.
These are usually held on an annual or irregular basis, and are
usually black tie .

Punting is a common summer leisure activity.

There are several more or less quirky traditions peculiar to
individual colleges, for example the All Souls mallard song .

CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

See also: Category:Clubs and societies of the University of
OxfordOxford
Rowing at Summer Eights, an annual intercollegiate bumps race

Sport is played between college teams, in tournaments known as
cuppers (the term is also used for some non-sporting competitions). In
addition to these there are higher standard university wide groups .
Significant focus is given to annual varsity matches played against
Cambridge, the most famous of which is
The Boat Race , watched by a TV
audience of between five and ten million viewers. This outside
interest reflects the importance of rowing to many of those within the
university. Much attention is given to the termly intercollegiate
rowing regattas: Christ Church Regatta,
Torpids and
Summer Eights . A
blue is an award given to those who compete at the university team
level in certain sports. As well as traditional sports, there are
teams for activities such as
Octopush and quidditch .

There are two weekly student newspapers: the independent Cherwell and
OUSU's The
OxfordOxford Student . Other publications include the Isis
magazine ,
The Owl Journal , the satirical Oxymoron , and the graduate
Oxonian Review . The student radio station is
Oxide Radio . Most
colleges have chapel choirs. Music, drama, and other arts societies
exist both at collegiate level and as university-wide groups. Unlike
most other collegiate societies, musical ensembles actively encourage
players from other colleges. The
OxfordOxford Union 's debating chamber

Most academic areas have student societies of some form which are
open to students studying all courses, for example the Scientific
Society . There are groups for almost all faiths, political parties,
countries and cultures.

The
OxfordOxford University Student Union , better known by its acronym
OUSU, exists to represent students in the university's
decision-making, to act as the voice for students in the national
higher education policy debate, and to provide direct services to the
student body. Reflecting the collegiate nature of the University of
OxfordOxford itself,
OUSU is both an association of Oxford's more than
21,000 individual students and a federation of the affiliated college
common rooms, and other affiliated organisations that represent
subsets of the undergraduate and graduate students. The
OUSU Executive
Committee includes six full-time salaried sabbatical officers, who
generally serve in the year following completion of their Final
Examinations.

The importance of collegiate life is such that for many students
their college JCR (Junior Common Room, for undergraduates) or MCR
(Middle Common Room, for graduates) is seen as more important than
OUSU. JCRs and MCRs each have a committee, with a president and other
elected students representing their peers to college authorities.
Additionally, they organise events and often have significant budgets
to spend as they wish (money coming from their colleges and sometimes
other sources such as student-run bars). (It is worth noting that JCR
and MCR are terms that are used to refer to rooms for use by members,
as well as the student bodies.) Not all colleges use this JCR/MCR
structure, for example Wadham College's entire student population is
represented by a combined Students' Union and purely graduate colleges
have different arrangements.

Throughout its history, a sizeable number of
OxfordOxford alumni, known as
Oxonians, have become notable in many varied fields, both academic and
otherwise, ranging from
T. E. LawrenceT. E. Lawrence , British Army officer known
better as
Lawrence of Arabia to the explorer, courtier, and man of
letters, Sir
Walter RaleighWalter Raleigh , (who attended
Oriel College but left
without taking a degree); and the Australian media mogul, Rupert
Murdoch . Moreover, 58 Nobel prize-winners have studied or taught at
Oxford, with prizes won in all six categories. More information on
famous senior and junior members of the university can be found in the
individual college articles. An individual may be associated with two
or more colleges, as an undergraduate, postgraduate and/or member of
staff.

Robert BoyleRobert Boyle , a founder of modern chemistry, never formally studied
or held a post within the university, but resided within the city to
be part of the scientific community and was awarded an honorary
degree. Notable scientists who spent brief periods at
OxfordOxford include
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein developer of general theory of relativity and the
concept of photons ; and
Erwin Schrödinger who formulated the
Schrödinger equation and the Schrödinger\'s cat thought experiment.
Structural engineer
Roma Agrawal , responsible for London's iconic
Shard , attributes her love of engineering to a summer placement
during her undergraduate physics degree at Oxford.

Oxford's philosophical tradition started in the medieval era, with
Robert Grosseteste and
William of Ockham , commonly known for
Occam\'s razor , among those teaching at the university. Thomas Hobbes
,
Jeremy Bentham and the empiricist
John LockeJohn Locke received degrees from
Oxford. Though the latter's main works were written after leaving
Oxford, Locke was heavily influenced by his twelve years at the
university.

* ^ A B "University League Table 2018". The Complete University
Guide. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
* ^ "
Oxbridge \'Elitism\'" (PDF). 9 June 2014.
* ^ "Acceptances to
OxfordOxford and
CambridgeCambridge Universities by previous
educational establishment".
* ^ "
UCASUCAS Students: Important dates for your diary". Archived from
the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2009. 15
October 2009 Last date for receipt of applications to Oxford
University, University of
CambridgeCambridge and courses in medicine, dentistry
and veterinary science or veterinary medicine.
* ^ "Organ Awards Information for Prospective Candidates" (PDF).
Faculty of Music, University of Oxford. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2009. It is possible for a
candidate to enter the comparable competition at
CambridgeCambridge which is
scheduled at the same time of year.
* ^ "
UCASUCAS Students FAQs:
OxfordOxford or Cambridge". Archived from the
original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2009. Is it possible
to apply to both
OxfordOxford University and the University of Cambridge?
* ^ "How do I choose a college? – Will I be interviewed only at
my chosen college?". University of Oxford. Retrieved 23 November 2009.

* ^ "Open Offer Scheme". Department of Biochemistry, University of
Oxford. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
* ^ "Open Offer Scheme". Department of Physics, University of
Oxford. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
* ^ "Regulations on the number and length of terms". University of
Oxford. Archived from the original on 27 May 2008. Retrieved 9 October
2007.
* ^ Sastry, Tom; Bekhradnia, Bahram (25 September 2007). "The
Academic Experience of Students in English Universities (2007 report)"
(PDF). Higher Education Policy Institute. pp. footnote 14. Archived
from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
Even within
Russell GroupRussell Group institutions, it is remarkable how
consistently
OxfordOxford and
CambridgeCambridge appear to require more effort of
their students than other universities. On the other hand, they have
fewer weeks in the academic year than other universities, so the
extent to which this is so may be exaggerated by these results.
* ^ Shepherd, Jessica (22 March 2007). "
OxfordOxford targets bright young
things of eastern Europe". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 9 October 2007.

* Archaeology
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HistoryHistory of Art
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* etc.